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jft69z

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Thanks guys, glad to be here! Absolute wealth of knowledge you guys have here. Any time I wonder about something, a quick search usually provides more than enough answers.

I was here for the 77 Blizzard, you left at the perfect time. I spent some time in Colorado  in the USAF (Lowry AFB), the winters there can be just as harsh though. Three feet of snow & then 65 degrees a few days later.

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  • 7 months later...

Been posting updates in the 'What did you do to your Monte' thread, but figured it's about time to maybe keep everything in one place. Last week it was paint the bottom/firewall, touch up some areas on the body and now it's a 'Jamb' session. The car came painted, not a terrible job, but they didn't do door jambs, trunk lip & underside, etc. The plan here is to do all this stuff now and in a couple of years when I retire, strip the rest of the car and do it the way I like.

It's OK for now, especially since I'm doing a full re-wire, Fuel Injection, 454 LS-6 and 4L85E transmission. At least in this phase of getting the mechanical stuff all ironed out, if something happens to this paint, I won't be as annoyed.

Also spent a bushel of money today waiting for primer & sealer to dry.... Ordered the 4L85E transmission, torque converter, Holley Terminator Stealth EFI w/Trans controller, Dual-Sync distributor (plays nice with the EFI), Aeromotive fuel tank, regulator, filter and a few more odds & ends.

Below are prior threads from 'What did you do to your Monte' (mainly for me to remember what I did without searching elsewhere):

https://www.firstgenmc.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11271-what-did-you-do-to-your-monte-carlo-today/page/72/&tab=comments#comment-200195

https://www.firstgenmc.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11271-what-did-you-do-to-your-monte-carlo-today/page/73/&tab=comments#comment-200815

https://www.firstgenmc.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11271-what-did-you-do-to-your-monte-carlo-today/page/74/&tab=comments#comment-200995

https://www.firstgenmc.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11271-what-did-you-do-to-your-monte-carlo-today/page/75/&tab=comments#comment-201539

https://www.firstgenmc.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11271-what-did-you-do-to-your-monte-carlo-today/page/78/&tab=comments#comment-203522

https://www.firstgenmc.com/forums/index.php?/topic/11271-what-did-you-do-to-your-monte-carlo-today/page/78/&tab=comments#comment-203889

https://www.firstgenmc.com/forums/index.php?/topic/20498-bb-headers/page/3/&tab=comments#comment-207205

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Spent a good part of the day cleaning up the back side of the hood & turning it black. Couple more hours with the sandblast cabinet cleaning stuff for tomorrows festivities.

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Joe,

You are doing beautiful work on your car.  I can't imaging a much more difficult thing to work on than the underside of a hood.  There are so many nooks and crannies that you could cut your fingers on and the vents toward the back  of the hood are a real pain.  You are putting so much detail in the underside of something that won't get a lot of attention but if you don't do it the detail on the rest of the car would draw attention to what you don't.  I do hope you will consider bringing it to Carlisle for the 2020 Eastern Meet and the celebration of 50th anniversary of Monte Carlo.  We would love to see the amazing work you are doing now.  What an opportunity for you to show it off in the presence of over 50 other First Gen Monte Carlo's in one place.

rob

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Thanks guys, appreciate the kind words!

Steve, for the black, I initially was going to use DuPont Centari with hardener & flattener. Used it in the past with good results, but my paint jobber told me a lot of his customers were using a product named 'Hot Rod Black' from Distinctive Image (DI-HRB). Mixes 4:1 with activator & it's a urethane. Checked it out in person at another buddies collision/restoration shop and liked it so I bought a gallon. Goes on like butter, dries nice & seems durable so far. I masked it off the very next day to shoot some color on the body and no imprints or pulling away from the tape.

Yeah Rob, that back side of the hood was a mess. Leather gloves are the trick to keep from getting all cut up, lol. I plan to put the hood insulation on which will hide most of the work anyways, but if I don't at least it will look presentable. If I didn't do it all, I would know what was under there & it would bug me. Like putting lipstick on a pig.... It's not a show car, or a 100% original restoration, but I just couldn't live with the whole underside/frame/engine compartment the way it was. I knew I was doing all this before I bought the car though, so it wasn't a surprise. Years ago I had my Camaro for 2 whole hours, then backed it in the garage and started unbolting it. :nutz:

My next dilemma is what color to paint the front bumper filler panel. I know it's supposed to be argent silver, but am steering towards body color. I did a quick search here & it seems near even between argent, body color & a few blacked out as well. Thoughts?

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The miracles of duct tape :D. Blast cabinet was just too short to fit the front filler panel and the one I use outside is shot. Got the core support blasted and that was it.

 Decided the filler panel is going to be argent silver after more research. Probably won't happen today though. Hope to at least get the other parts black tonight, vacation is coming to an end come Wednesday night. Will be working about 21 days before another day off.

Got the edges of the hood looking better this morning, they did a poor job there too when the car was painted.

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I'm Sorry Joe, You have gotten us used to these progress updates.  You have hooked us and I don't think you can just say you have to work the next 21 days straight and not provide us with more progress updates.  You are going to have to burn some midnight oil and provide us with our needed updates.

rob

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LOL Rob, unfortunately about half of those days worked will actually be 12 hour night shifts. We rotate, days/nights. So short handed in our group though, overtime fills in any days that were supposed to be off. I usually can't get a couple of hours sleep though, been that way forever, so I try to at least get a little done during the day. Other days, the TV and the couch win the battle :).

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Semi-shiny and black. Almost ready to go back to work to relax after the last couple of 80+ hour weeks. Wanted to get the frame & suspension broke down and painted but all this other stuff needed done eventually, so that's how it played out. Probably move some cars around tomorrow and start to clean up the pig pen of a shop and then start on the frame.

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Sandblasted & turned more parts black today & got the front bumper filler plate in silver. Nothing screams fun like pressure washing the frame in the rain. Wanted to get some cars moved around and get the frame inside before the rain came, but didn't happen. Looks like it may be out there for awhile, supposed to rain solid for a couple more days.

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7 hours ago, 420ponies said:

I think you like the GM brand? Very nice shop to work out of. Plenty of toys.

Thanks James. No kids or college funds to worry about = toys.

Always had GM since I was a kid. A couple of used Ford F-250s along the way, but like the GMC 2500 much better. Sadly, they jerked me around a few years back with some warranty work on the CTS-V. Dragged it out for 6 weeks, made it to GM corporate, but all they kept saying is "NO, sorry". Just happened to be in the market for a new daily driver when this was going on. Told them I liked the old GM better than the 'new GM" (after their financial crisis) and apparently they didn't need my money any more. Ended up with the German car and haven't looked back since. Obviously not selling the stuff that I already own, but moving forward on brand new was a different story.

Eventually I found a number for the actual person who was screwing me with the warranty and had a good chat with him. He wasn't happy that I called him direct, but approved the repairs (that had GM Service Bulletins already), but by then the damage was done. Countless hours on the phone with customer service, reps (some very rude), supervisors, corporate, etc , and the lies they told to avoid the situation was enough.

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USPS, FedEx & UPS drivers have been busy lately... Christmas in October.

Expect the Transmission, tq converter, fuel tank in the near future. Now all I have to do is get the frame cleaned up & painted, new bushings and ball joints installed & arms painted. After that, the bulk of the dirty crap work as far as cleaning is done and the fun can begin.

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Off work this morning from the night shifts & back tomorrow days for awhile. Had a little time to break the frame down though. There's a picture to show how not to lower your car....with a torch to the front springs. Another with the "rolling chassis".

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Were you trying to cut the springs?   You succeeded in warping them.  The spring compressor is truly a life saver on removing those front springs.  Even with a spring compressor it scares me a little.  Keep up the good work, I can almost see it in black paint already.  Keep the pictures coming.

rob

 

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